


he conquers who endures

by bleakmidwinter



Category: Rope (1948)
Genre: Anal Sex, Asphyxiation, Established Relationship, M/M, Rope Bondage, and the gordian knot, i guess, kinky lovemaking, references to murder, superfluous references to alexander the great
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 03:54:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18541732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bleakmidwinter/pseuds/bleakmidwinter
Summary: brandon and phillip use the famous rope for activities beyond the criminalistic





	he conquers who endures

**Author's Note:**

> the title is a translated latin quote (and common phrase derived) from aulus persius flaccus, and there's only like one fic really that uses the rope in any sort of kink way in rope (1948) fics, so i thought i'd contribute another

Brandon raises his arms in an ironic resemblance to the crucifixion of Christ, stretching out the rope into a straight line, pulled tight at arms-length. .

 

“Phillip, have you heard the legend of the Gordian Knot?” 

 

Phillip lies under him, his hand ghosting over Brandon’s clothed thigh which straddles his hips. 

 

“It sounds familiar,” he says distantly. “Something from Freshman English?”

 

“Hmm, try Sophomore History.” Brandon snaps the rope as if it were a belt, grinning at the crack of it. “The story goes, the Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great and his army discovered a series of knots all tied together, so tightly it was hard to tell where anything started or ended.”

 

Brandon takes Phillip’s hand, raises it up and ties one end of the rope around his wrist.

 

“An oracle had declared that any man who was able to untangle this mysterious group of knots would become ruler of all of Asia.” 

 

“Quite the statement,” Phillip notes.

 

Brandon grins. “Isn’t it.” 

 

He raises Phillip’s arm above his head, his right wrist now tied snug with rope and loops the rope through the wooden columns of the headrest. Takes Phillip’s remaining wrist in hand and begins to tie the other end in the same fashion.

 

“Alexander was immediately struck with the desire to unravel these knots and prove his worth, you see.” Brandon finally drops Phillip’s left wrist, satisfied with his work. Phillip tugs to prove the strength. His arms are incapacitated. 

 

Brandon starts to unbutton his own shirt, agonizingly slow.

 

“He spent hours, so many hours, trying to his full capacity to untie these knots, but gained no leverage over them. He eventually drew his sword and said it didn’t matter how it was done, and he sliced it in half. Like a piece of pie, or something of the like.” 

 

“Surely, he didn’t see this as a victory,” Phillip interrupts, staring at each button until Brandon reaches the last one, and slides the shirt off his shoulders. The shirt drops to the rug, just off their bed. Brandon starts on Phillip’s shirt now, his fingers brush the skin of his chest underneath as he goes.

  
“Not only did he think his method was the judicious decision, but  _ everyone  _ believed he had outsmarted the ancient puzzle. Alexander managed before his death to conquer Egypt and many swaths of land in Asia. In a way, he had fulfilled the prophecy.”

 

“Coincidence.” Phillip stifles a gasp when Brandon slides his hands down the curves below his ribcage, thumbs brushing just under his nipples.

 

“Some truly believe Alexander had pleased the gods and succeeded the prophecy,” Brandon continues. “If he did become ruler, surely there must be some truth to it.”

 

“Since when did you become a believer in myths?” Phillip asks, feeling Brandon shift his weight almost completely onto Phillip. His lips are inches away, and Phillip leans up to kiss him but Brandon keeps just out of reach, leaning back with a smugness Phillip despises. 

 

Phillip attempts to take Brandon’s face in his hands, forgetting his arms are tied above his head. The rope burns his wrists, and he’s forced merely to watch Brandon, allow him to do as he pleases.

 

“The Gordian Knot, is merely a metaphor,” Brandon adds, disposing his previous claim. “For unsolvable problems. Sometimes you don’t need to go through every equation. Sometimes, it’s just as simple as using a sword, or a gun, or…”

 

Brandon tugs tight at the knot around Phillip’s right wrist. Phillip winces. “A rope.”

 

“I’m an unsolvable problem?” Phillip asks. Brandon smiles, and does close the gap between them then. With Brandon’s lips on his, a calm zeal takes over Phillip, and he goes limp, allowing Brandon to take full control. Whatever he wants, he’ll give.

 

“That’s debatable,” Brandon teases when he pulls away, leaving Phillip rosy-cheeked and yearning. “But that’s a discussion for another day. Today, you’re just practice.” 

 

“How romantic,” Phillip huffs. “By the way, what’s this all about?” He tugs at the rope which restrains him once more. “This isn’t what I agreed to.” 

 

“I know, I know. Be patient, Phillip. I was just getting you used to the feeling of it. I’m not sure you understand how it will feel, right  _ here _ .” Brandon slides a hand over Phillip’s neck, fingertips digging in slightly. It’s akin to an electric shock when he does this; Phillip feels the last traces of blood rush to the lower parts of his body. Specifically his cock which is currently straining uncomfortabley against the confines of his pants.

 

“I want to know,” Phillip says. “I know you won’t hurt me.”

 

“I’ll  _ try  _ not to,” Brandon responds, feigning indifference. Phillip knows he’d never allow any physical harm come upon him, never on purpose anyway. But, Phillip had agreed to a little hurt tonight. He wants the rope around his throat, for a bit, not long enough to pass out, but he wants to be in the shoes of the man they’re going to kill. To feel the thrill through a different perspective. Brandon had suggested it of course, in passing, as a joke most likely. It sparked something in Phillip he hadn’t known was there, and he said that he would want to try it. If Brandon did it properly, and if they were both in the befitting mood. 

 

Brandon unties the knots around Phillip’s wrists, easy and quick. Nothing similar to the Gordian Knot. The rope is discarded to the bedsheets for now, and Phillip surges up to capture Brandon’s lips on his own accord, running a hand behind his neck. Brandon’s skin runs hotter than it had when he’d touched him about ten minutes ago.

 

Phillip falls back against the silk pillow, bringing Brandon down with him, raises his hips slightly against him to feel his arousal, smiles against his lips when Brandon rolls his hips down in response. 

 

“Do you want me to be inside you when I do it?” Brandon whispers in his ear. Phillip nods, desperate. He runs his fingers over the toned muscles of Brandon’s chest. His skin is so hot, that Phillip might be concerned if his head wasn’t so clouded with lust.

 

The two of them divest each other of their trousers and undergarments, before Brandon reaches a long arm to the bedside bureau. He takes the glass bottle of lube from the drawer, uses a generous amount, and reaches between Phillip’s legs.

 

They both do this often enough that it doesn’t take long at all for Phillip to open up, and soon Brandon has three long fingers buried deep inside him, kissing his chest like it’s something he needs to conquer. In many ways, Phillip thinks, Brandon is similar to Alexander the Great.

 

Beautifully pretentious and desperate to dominate.

 

Biting his bottom lip, Brandon presses his cock to Phillip’s entrance and slides in, able to get all the way in without any pain or resistance on Phillip’s behalf. Brandon’s pretty big, not just in length but in girth. When they’d first started having sex, there was quite a bit of struggle. Presently, anything  _ less  _ would drive Phillip up the wall. 

 

Phillip breathes in through his nose, and out through his mouth in a short stuttering breath, raising a hand up to grip at Brandon’s neck and drag him down, vehement and needy. 

 

Their teeth click for a moment due to their mutual fervency, and Brandon reaches an arm down between them to raise one of Phillip’s legs up by the knee, and he thrusts into him in a firm rhythm. Phillip closes his eyes and leans back, allowing Brandon to trail his mouth everywhere, marking him, and claiming his territory.  _ A conqueror in sheep’s clothing. _

 

Phillip almost forgets they’re supposed to be using the rope until Brandon slows his pace and stops all together. Phillip’s cock is hard against his stomach and the loss of sensation forces him to squirm and make sounds of protest. Brandon doesn’t waste time in wrapping the rope up from under his neck and around once, so the ends of the rope circle around his hands, and if he tugs Phillip’s airflow will be cut off.

 

Brandon’s using both hands for the rope, so Phillip wraps his legs around Brandon’s hips to keep him inside; he resists the salacious urge to start fucking himself down on Brandon’s cock to subside the wound-up sensation in his gut.

 

“When we do this together, it’ll be a much different situation,” Brandon notes with the rope gripped tight in his hands, as if it needs saying. Phillip laughs, feeling his Adam's apple bob against the texture of it.

 

“Unless you want to be inside David, it very well should be.” 

 

With a disgusted expression, Brandon pulls the rope gently, and Phillip feels it tighten around his neck. He can still breathe, but it feels the way a tight bracelet around a wrist would feel, or a hair tie. It could potentially leave a red mark if held long enough.

 

“How’s that?” Brandon asks. His eyes glisten darkly down at Phillip, and he’s rocking forward so slowly it barely feels like he’s moving. Phillip shifts in place, ardently. 

 

“Are you going to ask that everytime you make it tighter?” Phillip criticizes. Despite himself, Phillip pulls Brandon in closer with the heel of his foot, reaching down to hold him by his hip bones, and nods his chin up to urge him on. “Harder, Brandon.”  

 

Brandon’s mouth is open, and he’s taking deep breaths trying to keep himself together. Phillip can tell this is keying up some strong desire inside of him, something more intense than anything he’s felt before. Phillip doesn’t think he’s ever seen Brandon so impassioned. 

 

He pulls tighter at the rope, and it starts to burn, like a rug burn that just doesn’t subside, wrapping wholly around the entirety of his neck. Phillip cranes back to get what breath he can in. His hand has found its way to Brandon’s forearm, and he squeezes, urging him on still. 

 

Brandon’s thrusting picks up the pace when he pulls tighter yet, and Phillip thinks he loses his hearing along with the privilege of filling his lungs. The sensations of Brandon moving in and out of him, hitting that place deep within him that causes his muscles to tense and his fingertips to tingle are what take him over. 

 

There is a heaviness in his head, and he thinks he can start to taste the color red, on his tongue, all the way into the back of his throat. The burn of the rope is so blistering that he feels it only in tandem with the pleasure. It’s a sick mixture.

 

Phillip doesn’t feel his hand fall from Brandon’s arm, or his heel sliding off Brandon’s backside, but apparently this signals to Brandon that he should let go, and suddenly Phillip can breathe. His eyes fly open when Brandon drops the rope completely and falls into him, gripping furiously at his face and leaving charged wet kisses in the crook of his neck while he slams into him at a pace too fast for Phillip’s brain to catch up with. 

 

He’s coming before he can catch his third breath, and a strident moan escapes him. He grips helplessly at Brandon’s skin, whatever flesh he can reach and dig his nails into, as Brandon keeps pistoning into him, bullheaded with blind passion, soon faltering and burying a soft strangled noise into Phillip’s shoulder, as he comes down seconds after him.

 

After the heavy breathing between them ebbs off, and reality comes into focus again, Brandon laughs and he flops over on his back beside Phillip. He asks amused, “Was that good for you, Phillip? It definitely looked like you enjoyed yourself.”

 

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Phillip teases and rolls over to face him. “I did enjoy it though.”

 

“Good, good.” Brandon’s eyes are closed. “You’re going to have to try it on me sometime.”

 

“I might end up killing you if I’m given the opportunity,” Phillip jokes, and pokes at Brandon’s chest with a nail. Brandon gives a delayed laugh and grabs the rope, tosses it across the room so it lands just in front of the door.

 

“You’re picking that up,” Phillip adds.

 

**Author's Note:**

> i'm working on my long chapter fic still, this was just a little treat i wanted to write for a while


End file.
